Alberta government needs more public health transparency as hospitals surge: NDP
Posted December 16, 2023 1:53 pm.
The Alberta NDP is calling for more transparency from the United Conservative Party (UCP) government as hospitals and clinics across the province are facing an “overwhelming rush” of patients.
NDP Health Critic for Primary and Rural Care David Shepherd is calling for “leadership” and demanding regular public health updates from Health Minister Adriana LaGrange and Chief Medical Officer of Health Mark Joffe to provide “critical health information.”
“Our public healthcare system can’t take any more of this,” said Shepherd in a statement.
“Frontline staff are overwhelmed at a rate not seen since the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. There are reports of 10-plus hour waits for care at children’s hospitals and of young people being cared for in the waiting rooms because there are no available beds.”
Alberta Health Services’ Intensive Care Unit (ICU) is at 89 per cent capacity, with 213 of 240 open beds full.
AHS would not confirm to CityNews how many beds are available in each zone but said they would add ICU capacity when needed.
Twelve beds have been added in Edmonton and five in Calgary since Dec. 7.
Watch: Long waits continue at Alberta hospitals
In addition, 28 rural healthcare facilities face temporary service disruptions due to staffing shortages, which include Slave Lake, Drumheller, Peace River, High Prairie, and Lac La Biche.
Alberta Health Services says on its website the disruptions are not unusual for it or “any other health system” as services and beds are managed based on patient need, staffing levels, and level of patient health.
It also says the disruptions can be due to “staff and physician vacations, vacancies, scheduled upgrades and construction projects.”
“The system is dynamic, and we manage service availability on an hourly and daily basis,” AHS says.
However, Shepard says this is due to a healthcare shortage, something echoed by Alberta Medical Association (AMA) president Paul Parks, who said in a letter Monday there is a “confluence of factors that are driving physicians out of hospitals,” which are negatively affecting Albertans’ access to timely, acute care.
The AMA also highlighted during this current cold and flu season, hospital wards designed for 30 patients are handling 45 “complex and very ill patients.”
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“We have a province-wide shortage of healthcare workers — a crisis that’s been building for years — but the UCP government has yet to bring forward a proper strategy for retention and recruitment,” Shepherd said.
“Now, we see routine facility closures and staff burnout. That’s the mess we’re in and much of it is this government’s making. Albertans need and deserve regular updates on what emergency measures are being put in place to support staff and ensure everyone in need of care can get it when they need it.”
The Opposition says Edmonton Public Schools has a 10 per cent student absenteeism, with some schools being as high as 20 per cent.
Meanwhile, it says several public and Catholic schools in Calgary are also “reporting more than 10 per cent of students being away due to illness.”
The NDP also says teachers and other school staff are falling ill.
It cites a letter sent to parents of Whispering Ridge Community School in the County of Grande Prairie, asking them to keep their kids home if possible due to a shortage of teachers, along with being in an “Outbreak Status” by AHS.
“Due to an overwhelming level of staff absences and the inability to fill these absences with on-call staff, WRCS along with PWPSD Central Officer is requesting any parents who are able to keep their children from attending school tomorrow, December 14th, to do so,” the letter, which was also posted on Facebook, reads.
It also cancelled a family movie night Friday due to a “high number of illnesses with staff, volunteers, and families at WRCS.”
“We know schools were already dealing with soaring class sizes and gross underfunding due to decisions made by the current government,” said Alberta NDP Education Critic Rakhi Pancholi.
“The Minister of Education should also be providing real-time updates to Albertans about what is being done to keep schools open, support overwhelmed staff and ensure students get the education they deserve.”
Health Minister LaGrange said in a statement to CityNews she has been in “constant” contact with AHS leadership and AMA president Parks to “discuss these current challenges in our acute care settings.”
She says emergency departments are filling up because Albertans don’t have access to primary care through a doctor, which is why the government is expanding the role of nurse practitioners.
Read More: Struggling to find a family doctor? Nurse practitioners can fill the gaps, LaGrange says
“Work is underway to refocus the health care system in order to ensure every Albertan has the access they need when and where they need it,” LaGrange’s statement reads.
“AHS will be able to focus on providing excellent acute care to patients while primary care, continuing care, and mental health and addiction will receive the attention [they] need from new organizations.”
The province says AHS is focusing on “repatriating patients out of busy hospitals to appropriate care sites” like continuing care or to hospitals with less demand that are closer to home for patients who can safely move to said hospitals.
-With files from Cole Fortner and Carly Robinson
